Locking fixture for cabinet doors



Feb. 9, 1960 E. c. DEANE 2,924,476

LOCKING FIXTUREFOR CABINET DOORS Filed June 9, 1958 I l I 5 32 INVENTOR.

E, C. Deane United States Parent, O

LOCKING FIXTURE Fon CABINET Doons Earl C. Deane, St. Louis, Mo. Application Jane 9, 195s, serial No. 140,847

-4 claims. (cI. 29e-209) This invention relates to a locking fixture for cabinet doors and the primary aim of the invention is the provision of a fixture for cabinets having swinging doors in the nature of mechanical refrigerators or analogous structures.

The problem of preventing children from openig cabinet doors, especially refrigerator doors, where the conventional latch-actuating handle is within reach of the by a child, even though the conventional latch is manipul lated to a released condition.

Another important aim of the invention is the provision of a locking fixture that may be quickly moved to position in respect to a Acabinet having a swinging door, and to provide in such a fixture rugged, inexpensively produced and effective parts that permit the mounting of the fixture without the employment of tools of either special or conventional character, and which may be employed with not only cabinets of various dimensions but cabinets having doors of different shapes and thicknesses.

|Other objects of the invention include the provision of a xture of the aforementioned character which has a clamp portion and a part mounted on said portion which cooperate to fulfill the broad objects above set down, and which clamp portion is comprised of a number of telescoped parts having opposed jaws on certain of said parts and movable therewith for the purpose of engaging the main body of the cabinet when the locking fixture is moved to the operative position.

=Still further aims of the invention are to provide unique, novel and relatively simple structure for adjustably holding that part of the fixture which lies in the path of travel of the swinging door of the cabinet so that doors of various widths may be accommodated, and to provide latching means for the door-engaging part which means is characterized by the presence of structure for releasably holding the arm in at least two positions, one being that in the path of travel of the swinging door.

Numerous additional objects of the invention will become apparent during the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention as set down in the following specification, referring to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

`Figure 1 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the locking fixture showing the same in the operative position on a cabinet having a swinging door closing one side thereof;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, end elevational view of the fixture in the position shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, end elevational view of the opposite end of the fixture in its position shown in Fig. l;

iFig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, condensed, longitudinal, central sectional view through the fixture per se; and

iFig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

While the locking fixture is designed for use with present types of refrigerators of the cabinet type 10 and provided with a door 12, it is conceivable that the invention may be embodied in fixtures of a character that may be used with other similar devices.

Since the locking iixture is particularly useful with refrigerators of the type illustrated in the drawing and is capable of preventing children from opening the door 12 of the cabinet 10, the structure of the fixture is such as to permit ready attachment of the fixture to the cabinet 10 of the refrigerator. The fixture has a clamp portion broadly designated by the numeral 14 and a part 16 manually shiftable to and from a position in the path of travel of door 12 but, in commercial practice, these parts 14 and 16 are assembled when sold and, therefore, the locking fixture does not have any loose parts when presented to the ultimate user for attachment to the cabinet 10. The clamp portion 14 comprises a tubular element 18 having internal screwthreads 20 and 22 disposed adjacent to the ends respectively thereof. screwthreads 20 are engaged by the external threads on rod 24 and screwthreads 22 are engaged by the screwthreads on one leg 26 of the L- shaped arm comprising part 16. The other arm 28 of part 16 lies in the path of travel of door 12 when the fixture is in the operative position, as shown in IFigs. l and 2.

A bumper 30 carried by the free end of arm 28 directly engages the normally front surface of door '12 and the thickness of door 12 will determine the relative position of part 16 With regard to clamp portion 14 when the fixture is mounted for use. In other words, part 16 may be rotated about the longitudinal axis of said one leg 26 to move the other arm 28 of part 16 toward and from the front of door 12, depending upon the thickness thereof, all for the distinct purpose of disposing arm 28 in the path of travel in front of door 12 when it is closed and thereby to prevent the outward swinging of the door due to the engagement of the door 12 with arm 28 when an attempt is made to swing the door 12 outwardly.

Clamp portion 14 is mounted directly upon cabinet 10 through the medium of a normally front jaw 32 and a jaw 34` disposed against the normally back wall of cabinet 10'. I aw 32 is mounted directly upon one end of tubular element 18 and is rigid thereto. law 34 has a bearing 36 with an internal bore greater than the outside diameter of rod 24 and therefore, as rod 24 is rotated to move the same longitudinally by virtue of the interengagement of screwthreads 20 with the external threads on rod 24, jaw 34 remains in place against the outer surface of the back wall of cabinet 10 and a turning of rod 24 will draw tubular element 18 and rod 24 into telescoped relation and, when jaw 32 is against the normally front wall of cabinet 10, jaw 34 will be drawn against the rear wall thereof in clamping engagement. Manual manipulation of rod 2-4 is facilitated through the use of a knob or the like 38. Each jaw 32 and 34 respectively has a facing 40 and 42 composed of a resilient strip, and it is preferred that the outwardly facing surfaces of these two members 40 and I42 be slightly adhesive so that they will frictionally grip the surfaces against which they are drawn and thereby prevent accidental upward movement of the clamp portion 14.

Part 16 is manually swingable about the longitudinal axis of leg 26 and as the part |16 is swung from the position shown in full lines to the position shown in dotted lines in fFig. 1, the swinging movement should be such as 3 to' causy the' it'erengaging threads 22 and the external threads on leg 26 to move 'arm 23 4slightly away from the outer surface of door 12. n

Leg 26 has a number` of longitudinal slots 44 milled therein along a po'rtit'mv of its length to accommodate ear 46 mounted on the free end of a spring leaf 48 and extending through an opening 50 provided 'in tubular .element 18. A convenient knob 52 on the free end of Vspring .leaf 48 allows the operator to lift ear 416 out of engagement with one of theY slots 44 when it is desired to move arm 28 out of the solid line position shown in IFig. 1 and to the dotted linek position. The other end of spring leaf 48 is anchored as at 54 and the latching and unlatched positions of the parts which hold part 16 in one of at least two positions is illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing.

lOne of the slots 44 is so positioned as to receive ear 46 `when arm 28 is in a position infront of door '12 and it is Vtherefore impossible to swing arm 28 out of the effective position withoutr lifting ear 46 from engagement with one of slots 44. When part 16 is' swung to theinoperative position illustrated in dotted lines in fFig. 1, ear 416 is engageable with another of slots 44 to prevent part 16 from accidentally falling into a position in front of door 12. From the foregoing it will be apparent that in actual use the locking fixture for cabinet doors may be attached to cabinets of various dimensions andhaving doors of various thicknesses, and that the components of the locking fixture are such as to allow complete adjustment for effective employment. The specific details of construction may be different from those illustrated and described while the broad concepts of the invention are still present in the assembly.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

`1.' For a cabinet having anv outwardly swinging door for closing one side thereof, a fixture adapted for quick attachment and removal to and from lthe cabinet respectively, said tixture comprising a clamp portion having a pair of opposed jaws for gripping the cabinet independently of the door, means for adjusting the distance between the jaws whereby to permit mounting on cabinets of various dimensions, and an armk on the clamp portion manually shiftable to and from' Va .position in the path of travel of the door to prevent opening thereof when the clamp portion is mounted on the cabinet by me'a'ns of the' said 3aws. n Y u 2. For a cabinet having an outwardly* swinging door for closing one side thereof,xa xture a's set forth'in claim 1 wherein the clamp portionand the Harm have interengageable latching means adapted to releasably maintain the arm in at least two positions, one being in the said position in the path of travel of the door.

3. For a cabinet having an outwardlyrswinging door lfor closing one side thereof, a fixture as set forth in claim 2, wherein the clamp portion has a number ofytelescoped members provided with interengaging screwthreads to allow adjusting the distance between the said jaws, and wherein the armis an L-shaped element.

4. For a cabinet having an outwardly swinging door `for closing one side thereof, a xture as set forth in claim 1 wherein the arm is adjustably mounted on' the clamp portion thereby allowing the arm length to be varied to accommodate doors of diierent widths.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 564,002 Burton July 14. 1896 706,995 Nippert Aug. 12,' '1902 2,564,600 Hummer Aug. 14, 1951 

